


Silver Star (For Effort)

by FairyLights101



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Nonbinary Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-24
Updated: 2017-02-24
Packaged: 2018-09-26 14:10:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9902405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FairyLights101/pseuds/FairyLights101
Summary: To Oikawa T.:Hi, this is Kuroo Tetsurou - your roommate may have told you about me?To Oikawa T.:I have your textbook and kinda somehow managed to find you but like… no one can get it to youTo Oikawa T.:I can meet up with you whenever you’re on campus if that’s okay, wherever you want





	

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous said to fairylights101writes:  
> Could I request Kurooi for this: Person A leaves their textbook in the cafeteria and person b finds it and they spent 3 days tracking person a down using the book number and now person b is standing in front of person a holding the book and woah the snow makes person b's hair pretty
> 
> I ended up making a few slight tweaks to the prompt, but otherwise have some kurooi I was blessed to have the opportunity to write (;*△*;)

“Y’know,” Kuroo said as he clicked his chopsticks together above his bowl, “I’m really one-hundred percent done with this semester.” Kenma snorted as he tapped at his phone, a text for once rather than a game, though Kuroo knew one of his many game apps would be open in a heartbeat. “It’s just so _long_ ,” Kuroo groaned as he leaned forward.

Golden eyes flicked up. Kenma sent the message and set his phone down as he picked his chopsticks up as well. “You’ve said that since the semester started.”

He grinned and shook his head. “What can I say? It’s a pain in the ass, trying to get through all these courses and assignments. Christ, it’s like the professors think everyone takes twelve course hours and don’t have jobs or sports and have all the damn free time in the world.”

Kenma blinked at him, chewed his mouthful of rice, and raised one slender eyebrow. “Then you should drop a class. Or quit your job.”

“It’s a good thing you didn’t suggest quit volleyball or the Tokyo police would have found you in a few months buried in the park.” Kenma puffed out a breath of laughter and shook his head as he ate some more rice, leaving Kuroo to charge on. “I can’t really quit though, they need me at work, and it pays well, and it’s a great place to be an intern at - really gonna help prepare me for life in the labs. And I could withdraw, but then that’s on my transcript, and I know I can do it, it’s just that I _really_ wish these professors would stop assigning everything at the same damn time. I swear, they’ve got an extra sense for this shit. Like, for real, _five_ papers _and_ two tests by next Wednesday. It’s only Monday, but I'm _suffering_ Kenma, so much.”

His friend smiled faintly as he tapped his phone and opened up an app. “And I have no pity, Kuroo.”

_“Kenma!”_

The blond merely hummed and bent over his phone, tapping out another message to Hinata. Kuroo rolled his eyes and sighed as he started to eat again, eyes glued to his anatomy textbook once more, a diagram full of muscles spread across the page. They fell into comfortable silence, only the quiet chatter of the few other students and the music overhead breaking it.

“He _what_?”

The cry echoed through the near-silent cafeteria and Kuroo’s head snapped towards the source of the noise, a young man in the booths to his left. One hand was on his head, tugging anxiously at the white beanie before he shot upright, wrestling with his black jacket as he tried to keep his phone pressed to his ear, eyes wide and terrified. “No, no, no, I’ll be there, just- fuck, shit, give me ten minutes and I’ll be on my way, I just- _fuck_!” The man snatched his bag from beneath his feet and slung it over one shoulder. He took a few steps before he whirled around and grabbed his plate and glass before he darted off, backpack slipping off his shoulder as he darted forward, stumbling as he went.

Kuroo watched him go, wide-eyed and startled before he slowly turned to Kenma, whose stare matched, just as confused. “What…?” Kuroo glanced back at the doorway in time to see the man rush out, back on the phone now, before he shook his head. “I wonder what that was about.”

“I don't,” Kenma grumbled as he sent his message and opened up another app, this one a little cat game. “That was distracting and loud. I'd rather him _not_ scream.”

Kuroo rolled his eyes and flicked his friend in the middle of the forehead with a sigh. “So rude, Kenma, honestly.” His friend didn't respond. Kuroo stuck his tongue out, flipped his friend off, and glanced around. People were trickling into the cafeteria, bringing with them a subdued, calm chatter, too early for the dinner rush.

His eyes drifted back to the table the man had sat at and widened. A textbook lay in the booth, papers sticking out of it. “Kenma… I think that guy left his textbook.”

His friend looked up and blinked lazily before he nodded. “Yeah, probably.” He turned back to his game with a hum and Kuroo laughed quietly. He scooted his chair back, strode over to the booth, and picked up the book, glossy, new, and with a pair of handcuffs on the front, _“Law and Aging”_ stamped above it. _That's a lot less kinky now._

He grinned and flipped the cover open, searching for a name. The front cover was clear, but the looseleaf pages inside were filled with neat characters in colorful strokes of pen. And, in the upper hand corner, was a name - Oikawa Tooru. _Shit, that sounds familiar._ He didn't remember having class with anyone with that name though, and he _definitely_ wasn’t on the volleyball team. Kuroo glanced at the entrance to the caf. Judging from the panicked look and the way the man, apparently called Oikawa, had rushed out, he wouldn’t be realizing he didn’t have his book for a while. _I guess this means I need to track him down. Fuck if I know where to start though._

He trudged back over to Kenma and dropped the book with a heavy smack. His friend jerked back, breaking his concentration on his rhythm game, and the blond shot him an accusing glare. “Asshole,” Kenma grumbled.

“Jerk,” Kuroo sang as he sank down and tapped the top of the textbook. “Kenma, do you know an Oikawa Tooru?”

His friend glanced up from his phone for a second before his eyes dropped and he shook his head. “No. Talk to someone in the Criminal Justice department.”

“No, absolutely not,” Kuroo drawled, “That’s _definitely not_ where I was planning to go tomorrow.”

Kenma sneered at his game before he closed out of it, sighed, and looked Kuroo full-on, no distractions this time. “You could just hand it to lost and found you know. They’d be able to find him, or he’ll probably go there when he realizes he doesn’t have it.”

Kuroo sniffed, feigning haughtiness as he shook his head. “Ah, but Kenma my friend, that would be too easy! I’ll be able to find him. I’ll just have to ask around and see.”

Kenma snorted, shook his head, and returned to his food. “Good fucking luck,” Kenma murmured as he plucked up a piece of chicken.

Kuroo grinned. “Oh, I won’t need it. This is a matter of pride… of dignity… of family honor!”

His friend glanced up. His stare lasted so long that Kuroo snapped his fingers in front of Kenma’s eyes, but even then the blond didn’t react for an agonizing amount of time. His lips quirked up as he shook his head. “Again - good luck.”

_“Rude.”_

* * *

 

Tuesday morning found him seated outside a series of offices on the third floor of the Nakamura building, home to half a dozen miscellaneous departments, a tall, steaming cup of pitch black coffee in one hand. It had taken a few minutes of searching on the school website to find the textbook and which teacher had required it for their class - Professor Takeda, who taught Criminal Justice 335, something on juveniles.

Plugging the guy’s name into the email server had been a bust - admittedly, it was like that half the time anyways, shit as it was. Even doing a Facebook and Instagram search had been useless. There were simply too many Oikawa Toorus in Japan, and he hadn’t gotten a good enough look at the guy’s face to match his face to various icons, and he wasn’t in the mood for messaging random people. So he’d snooped around and done the next logical thing - haul ass right after workouts to find a professor who might know who the hell Oikawa Tooru was and how to point him in his direction.

Kuroo sighed quietly and sipped at his coffee. A door opened with a creak of metal hinges too loud for the quiet office space and Kuroo’s head snapped towards the noise. A fairly young man stood in the doorway, snow dusted across his shoulders and hat as he juggled a cup, two bags, and an armful of books. One with the same face he’d studied for at least fifteen minutes between the night before and earlier in the morning so he could be _certain_ he had the right professor. Kuroo rocked to his feet, set his coffee down on the little table in front of him, and jogged over to the professor, smiling brightly as he held his hands out. “Would you like some help, sir?”

The professor looked at him, infinitely relieved, and allowed Kuroo to take the books from his arms - though, they were so loose beneath his arm that they practically fell into Kuroo’s hands when he shifted slightly. “Thank you,” Professor Takeda breathed as he let the door click shut behind him and moved forward. “I really should have done it in two trips, but it’s _cold_ out, and I didn’t want to be out there more than necessary.”

“I can’t blame you. It makes early-morning workouts _awful_.”

Gray eyes cut up to him as the professor dug in his pockets and produced a set of keys, though there were more charms than actual keys. He unlocked a door with “TAKEDA” on the nameplate and stepped into the dark office with a sigh. “You play a sport?”

“Yes sir, I’m on the men’s volleyball team.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful! I used to be an advisor for a high school team, but then I got my doctorate and, well, my husband moved to coach at a local one here, so I stop in occasionally.”

“That’s awesome!”

Professor Takeda hummed as he dropped his bag onto the desk, cup going next to it before he started to shed his jackets, all three of them. He was halfway through the third when he realized Kuroo was still holding his books and he flushed. “Ah, sorry, sorry, you can just set those down, um… here!”

The professor lurched forward and moved a stack of papers - tests from the quick glance Kuroo managed - so Kuroo could set them down. He just laughed and put the books there before he turned to the professor, who fluttered around his office for a minute before he froze and turned back to Kuroo, eyes wide. “I’m sorry, did you need something? Are you here to talk about the Criminal Justice major? _Oh no,_ I’m so sorry! I completely forgot that you were supposed to be coming by to talk about it and-”

“Sir, I’m not here to talk about becoming a Criminal Justice major.”

Professor Takeda blinked, and then the faint flustered blush bloomed into an embarrassed scarlet that overtook his face. “You aren’t? So… you’re not Terushima Yuuji?”

Kuroo smiled and shook his head. “No sir, I’m Kuroo Tetsuro. I’m here because I think one of your students left his textbook in the cafeteria after he ran out, I think for some kind of emergency.”

Professor Takeda blinked rapidly at him before he straightened up fully, eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “One of my students…? Did the textbook have a name in it? Or papers?”

“Yes, Oikawa Tooru.”

Takeda’s mouth popped into a small ‘O’ of understanding as he nodded, then flung himself forward and hurriedly opened his bag and pulled out a laptop. His fingers flew across the keyboard and then he clicked a few times, eyes skimming over something before he leaned back and nodded. “Yes, yes, Tooru emailed me last night - there’s been a family emergency, minor, thankfully, but Tooru will be missing some classes.”

Kuroo winced sympathetically and nodded. “Damn. Well, do you have his email? I was hoping I could let him know that I have his book and give it to him as soon as possible.”

Takeda went completely still, head cocked slightly, eyes unreadable behind his glasses as he studied Kuroo for an almost disturbingly long and heavy moment before he sighed and shook his head. “I can’t give you their email.”

Kuroo blinked. One second passed, then another, and then the realization hit. _Oh. That makes sense._ “Well… can you direct me to someone that could put me in contact with them? A roommate? Classmate?”

Professor Takeda nodded, already moving as he rummaged around in his desk drawers for a moment before he produced a sticky note pad and a pen. “This is their roommate’s email - Semi Eita, another Criminal Justice major. Eita will be able to give you Tooru’s number. I’d take the textbook myself, but I’m more likely to forget it than anything else.” Takeda laughed nervously and ruffled his hair with a shake of his head as he handed the sticky note over. “Thank you for trying to do this - I’m sure Tooru will appreciate it when they find out and get back to campus.”

Kuroo smiled. “I hope so.”

* * *

 

**To [Semi, Eita]:**

**Hi! I’m Kuroo Tetsurou from the volleyball team (and Science track of the school). Your roommate, Oikawa Tooru, left their textbook (Law & Aging) at the cafeteria the other day and Professor Takeda gave me your email. I was wondering if it would be okay for me to drop off the textbook, or maybe get Oikawa’s number and give it to them in person? Whatever you or Oikawa want!**

**-Kuroo Tetsurou** **  
** **[Sent at 5:03 P.M.]**

**To [Kuroo, Tetsurou]**

**tooru’s just sent me a bunch of prayer hand emoji things. thanks for picking up their textbook. i’d say bring it by, but i’m in class half the damn day and busting ass to work right after so unless you wanna drop it off or meet up at 2am… yeah. here’s their cell though: 000-0000-0000. they should be back by thursday or friday tho. thanks**

**\- Semi Eita** **  
** **[Sent at 2:59 A.M.]**

Kuroo read over the email Semi had sent him back once more, eyes narrowed as he checked the phone number for the umpteenth time in the last five minutes, just to ensure he _did_ message the right person. Kenma snorted from his perch on Kuroo’s bed and shook his head. “Just message them already.”

“Kenma, this is a matter of utmost importance, a matter of _national security,_ a-”

“Shut up, you're distracting me.”

Kuroo grinned and surged up from his seat on the wooden floor and flung himself onto the bed, one arm outstretched. Kenma never stood a chance. Kuroo's weight carried them down, pressing Kenma into the bed and pinning him there as Kuroo let great, cackling laughs burst out. His friend squirmed under his arm, but Kuroo squeezed him closer, maneuvered so that Kenma would struggle to see his DS, and laughed even harder, his entire body shaking. “Kenma! Kenma- your _expression, oh my God,_ I-”

“I hate you.”

“So rude! And I call you my _best friend,_ have for years!”

“To my never-ending disappointment,” Kenma mumbled dryly. Kuroo grinned and moved so that Kenma could shift and curl up into a ball on his side, neatly tucked against Kuroo. The quiet taps of his fingers on the buttons filled the calm silence of the room once more, familiar and soothing. Kuroo's eyes slipped shut, arm loose around Kenma’s waist, and he listened to the soft breaths, the rapid beating of his fingers.

“You should message them,” Kenma said once more, softer this time.

Kuroo sighed quietly and nodded. He heaved himself upright and Kenma grunted quietly at the loss of a warm body to lean into, but Kuroo was back in a flash, phone in hand as he clambered back into his spot and shoved another pillow beneath his head. He opened up the text message again, took a steadying breath - _I really shouldn’t be so nervous about this. It’s just a text about their textbook_ \- and then began to type.

 **To Oikawa T.:** **  
** **Hi, this is Kuroo Tetsurou - your roommate may have told you about me?**

 **To Oikawa T.:** **  
** **I have your textbook and kinda somehow managed to find you but like… no one can get it to you**

 **To Oikawa T.:** **  
** **I can meet up with you whenever you’re on campus if that’s okay, wherever you want**

That done, he dropped his phone onto his chest and shifted so he could peek over Kenma’s head, his hair freshly bleached and smelling faintly of the pink dye he’d used the night before with the help of Akaashi, who had bleached their own hair to a startling snow white. Kenma was engrossed in some combat game - _Fire Emblem Heroes_ if he remembered correctly. Even though it was a new release he could tell that Kenma was far along. “How much homework did you not do to get so far?”

“Too much,” Kenma mumbled as he frantically tapped at some buttons, then sighed in relief as the battle ended. “I don't want to think about my research paper due on Friday.”

“... Kenma.”

 _“What?”_ his friend groaned.

“How _long_ is that paper supposed to be?”

“Ah… fifteen pages? Twenty? I don’t really remember.”

Kuroo groaned and buried his face beneath one hand. Kenma’s body shook with a snort of laughter a second before the tapping resumed, this time more subdued than before. Kuroo shook his head, but he didn't say anything as they nestled closer together, comfortable in the quiet. His phone vibrated on his stomach. Kuroo propped it up and peered at the screen, a small smile appearing as he read the text that waited.

 **From Oikawa T.:** **  
** **!!!! Thank you so much!!! Ur a lifesaver I swear (;*△*;)**

 **From Oikawa T.:** **  
** **If it's okay I can meet u Thursday afternoon???**

 **From Oikawa T.:** **  
** **I get out of class at 4 15 ((´д｀))**

 **From Oikawa T.:** **  
** **Thank u so much I swear I was freaking out and just oh man Σ(･口･)**

 **To Oikawa T.:** **  
** **No prob, it's the least I could do**

 **From Oikawa T.:** **  
** **STILL!!! (❁´▽`❁)*✲ﾟ***

 **From Oikawa T.:** **  
** **Oh meet me outside the Starbucks on campus!!! I'll buy u coffee or something as thanks (☆▽☆)**

 **To Oikawa T.:** **  
** **I can do that**

 **From Oikawa T.:** **  
** **See u then!!!!!**

Kuroo smiled and turned his phone off, then rolled so he could watch Kenma some more. His character was running around on the screen, the graphics bright, cute, and surprisingly detailed considering it was a little handheld game. Kenma certainly seemed to enjoy it, tapping and occasionally humming quietly as he diligently guided his character across the screen. “Did you do it?” he said quietly after a minute.

Kuroo nodded, hair rasping loudly against the pillow until Kenma kicked him gently with the back of his heel. He grinned and patted his friend’s shoulder. “Yes, I did. Oikawa seems pretty excited. We’re going to meet at the Starbucks on campus after classes on Thursday. Works out since we’ve got a late practice that night, thank God.”

Kenma snorted and shook his head. He completed a series of actions Kuroo halfway paid attention too before he shifted again, a little twitch of his elbows and feet. “I still can’t believe you didn’t just hand the book over to lost and found.”

Kuroo shrugged sheepishly, awkward between the bed, wall, and Kenma, but he managed. He smiled and patted his friend. “I’m just a tenacious asshole who figured it would be for the best.”

He couldn’t see if Kenma rolled his eyes, but his friend probably had - that and the little puff of breath through his nose was usually a good giveaway. Kuroo just smiled, eyes closing as he relaxed into the bed, tired from a long day of workouts and class and practice. “Wake me up when it’s time to go back to my room,” he mumbled.

Kenma shoved him.

* * *

 

Kuroo scuffed his feet on the ground, shifting the fresh snow around, even though more would cover it up within the hour. It was snowing, thick, puffy white flakes that were steadily blanketing the world centimeter by centimeter, hour by hour. The campus was close to closing due to the weather, some of the places already vacated by employees and people. The Starbucks had people scrambling for their last coffees  and teas and God knew what kind of drinks before the snow _really_ hit and _everything_ shut down.

But he couldn’t really focus on that. He kept glancing at his phone, eyes flickering across the time as the minutes crept by, painfully slow. _It’s just to give them their book back._ And yet he couldn’t help but think of that split-second glimpse he’d gotten of Oikawa, of that pretty face and a white beanie.

Kuroo sighed and slapped his cheeks gently, then shifted his backpack off his shoulder once more and glanced inside. Sure enough, the textbook was inside, nestled right between his own textbook for his Anatomy and Physiology class and his laptop. Kuroo shook his head, shrugged his backpack back over both shoulders and resumed dragging his toes along the ground, making nonsensical patterns in the soft snow. _What an idiot. Calm the hell down._ But instead his mind spun, trying to sort out just _why_ that name had seemed so familiar.

Oikawa Tooru - not exactly uncommon seeing as how there had been fifty of them at least when he’d searched through Facebook. He couldn’t remember the name from high school - those memories were sharp, and he would have recognized a name and face like that. Not in middle school either as far as he could remember. Elementary school was likely, but even then he was almost certain that wasn’t the case. Volleyball was likely too - it only happened to dominate his life, and God knew how many people were in the volleyball world. Or maybe-

“Yoohoo! Kuroo? Kuroo Tetsurou?”

His head snapped up from the ground, eyes widening as a person charged towards him and stumbled to a stop before righting themself and throwing their arms wide, a radiant grin curling their lips. “ _Tada!_ Oikawa Tooru, here at your service! Or, something like that anyways.” Kuroo snorted, a God-awful sound that made Oikawa smile even wider, deep brown eyes crinkling and- _oh._

Kuroo’s hand went loose over his mouth as he stared, wide-eyed and rapidly taking in everything that was _Oikawa._ They wore a stylish outfit - mostly dark colors and a long jacket overtop a cheerful pale blue sweater with alien heads printed all across it. Tall too, as tall as him, but a little more slender. A sharp jawline that carried his eyes seamlessly to pierced ears, delicately prominent cheekbones, brown eyes outlined with makeup, then higher up. They were wearing another beanie, this one a powder blue, and their brown hair was dusted with snow, the crystals clinging tenaciously to meticulously styled flips in their bangs, down to their eyebrows, and even in their long eyelashes. _How is it legal to be this pretty?_ It shouldn’t have been - Oikawa had to be a physical anomaly, a wonder of the world, a-

“Kuroo? You… you are Kuroo, right?”

He twitched, a crooked smile blooming to life as he bowed slightly. “Yeah, sorry, that’s me. I guess my memory didn’t really do you justice.”

Oikawa blinked, snow-coated lashes fluttering for a moment before pink bloomed across their cheeks and their hands tangled together, fingers interlocking as they smiled. “Really? You know me?”

“Just from when you jumped up and _shrieked_ in the caf. Hard to forget someone that cute who does something like that.”

Oikawa winced, still amused thankfully, and shook their head. “My bad. My friend’s boyfriend called me to tell me he’d had a wreck. Minor, thank fuck, but- anyways, thank you _so much,_ it’s really just-!” Oikawa flapped their hands at him, grasping at words.

Kuroo laughed, waving aside their thanks. “It was no problem, really. I just wanted to make sure you got your book back.”

“And get some flirting in while you’re at it? Horrendously, but I can give you a silver star for effort?”

“Oh?” Kuroo hummed, leaning a little closer, catching the faint scent of something sweet as he grinned. “Only a silver star? What do I have to do for a _gold_ star?”

Oikawa’s eyes flicked up and away as though they were thinking, tapping one finger against their chin dramatically before they sighed, smiled, and looked back to Kuroo. “Well, you can get coffee with me. I’ve been _dying_ to learn about the guys I was supposed to be playing with.”

Kuroo stilled. Blinked. Slowly cocked his head to the side as the dots connected, one by one. “... You were the prospect that was injured before you could sign.”

Oikawa nodded, smiling wryly as they turned the finger on their chin to the coffee shop. “How about I buy us some coffee, you buy me some milk bread, and we go back to my room and talk? I definitely wouldn’t mind getting to know someone so handsome a little better.”

Kuroo’s grin was wicked and wide as he nodded. “Sounds perfect to me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment if you enjoyed yo. It's nice payback since all this was free  
> Hit me up at [fairylights101writes](http://fairylights101writes.tumblr.com/) to scream nicely at me about ideas or drop requests and have an awesome existence!


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